Xpeng Motors example electric car is called the P7.
Xpeng Motors
Chinese electric car company Xpeng Motors has raised fresh funding as match continues to heat up in China’s so-called new energy vehicle market.
The $500 million funding came from a club of investors including Aspex, Coatue, Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital China. It follows a $400 million specie injection in November from investors that included Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.
China’s electric carrier sector has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Sales of new energy vehicles fell 33.1% year-on-year in June, according to matter from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. However, sales have been rising month-on-month as the Chinese conservatism shows signs of rebounding.
Earlier this year, the Chinese government unveiled policies it hoped will awaken the electric car market. It said new energy vehicle subsidies and tax break policies that had been set to expire this year were stretch to 2022. And charging infrastructure around the country got a 2.7 billion yuan ($385.7 million) injection.
China’s favorable actions toward the electric car market have helped spawn dozens of domestic brands and fueled intense competition.
This month, Xpeng Motors started presentations of its new P7 sedan — which is seen as a competitor to Tesla’s Model 3. In January, Tesla began rolling out Model 3 autos made in its Shanghai factory to customers in China.
Chinese electric carmakers have recently been pushing to nurture money. Earlier this month, Li Auto filed for an initial public offering in the U.S. but has not yet priced its shares. And U.S.-listed NIO imparted that it had secured 10.4 billion yuan worth of credit lines this month.
But the pandemic has also depress some electric vehicle firms in China. Start-up Byton said earlier this month that it was blackballing business operations for six months and furloughing staff.